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> is it clear yet if it can be called fair use?

Yes.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyrig...

Though the EU has its own courts and laws.



If France, fair use doesn't even exist!

We have exceptions, which are similar, but the important difference is that courts decide what is fair and what is not, whereas exceptions are written in law. It is a more rigid system that tend to favor copyright owners because if what is seen as "fair" doesn't fit one of the listed exceptions, copyright still applies. Note that AI training probably fits one of the exceptions in French law (but again, it is complicated).

I don't know the law in other European countries, but AFAIK, EU and international directives don't do much to address the exceptions to copyright, so it is up to each individual country.


> If France, fair use doesn't even exist!

Same in Sweden. The U.S. has one of the broadest and most flexible fair use laws.

In Sweden we have "citaträtten" (the right to quote). It only applies to text and it is usually said that you can't quote more than 20% of the original text.


District judge pretrial ruling on June 25th, I'd be surprised this doesn't get challenged soon in higher courts.

And acquiring the copyrighted materials is still illegal - this is not a blanket protection for all AI training on copyrighted materials


Even if it gets challenged successfully (and tbh I hope it does), the damage is already done. Blocking it at this stage just pulls up the ladder behind the behemoths.

Unless the courts are willing to put injunctions on any model that made use of illegally obtained copyrighted material - which would pretty much be all of them.


But a ruling can determine that the results of the violation needs to be destroyed.


Anthropic bought millions of books and scanned them, meaning that (at least for those sources) they were legally obtained. There has also been rampant piracy used to obtain similar material, which I won't defend. But it's not an absolute - training can be done on legally acquired material.


Why is acquiring copyrighted materials illegal?

You can just buy books in bulk under the first sale doctrine and scan them.


Which is not what any of the companies did

Anthropic ALSO get copyrighted material legally, but they pirated massive amounts first


Apologies, I read your original statement as somehow concluding that you couldn't train an AI legally. I just wanted to make it extra clear that based on current legal precedent in the U.S., you absolutely can. Methodology matters, though.




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